Grasslands War
Ne383- Ne387 In Ne356, the Fordrane Family was elected as the oligarchic rulers of the Trodian Empire. They were not a traditional Trodian family, and rumors swirled about their supposed Feral lineage. The Fordranes, hoping to expel these rumors, set out to exterminate Ferals in all of Marreth. Many believe that they took this tactic from the old DeMarc Family, who hadn't been in power since Ne23. In Ne380, King Henry Erristan placed trade sanctions on Marreth in conjunction with the godcity of Groftbay. This move effectively cut off supplies and trade from 4 of the 5 major countries, as only Vallos is accessible to Trodia without access to the Kingsriver or the Sea of Caldera. In response the Fordrane Family, led by their kal Ester Fordrane, took over the Groftlan city of Vauxe on Nov. 8 Ne383 an effort to regain some control of the Sea of Caldera to reestablish trade. Groftbay, who owned Vauxe, immediately declared war. By the following week, longtime Groftbay ally Erristan declared war, had a sparking what was known as the Grasslands War between Trodia and both Erristan and Groftbay. The war was fought mainly in the grass fields of Groftlan, producing the name "Grasslands War". The scale of the war was actually fairly small. Most Trodian troops were still engaged in conflict in the Marreth Region against their Feral enemies. The Marreth Army was being led by Vestin DeMarc. Though the DeMarc Family had not been in power since Ne23, they still garnered much influence in the empire. DeMarcs allied themselves closely with the aggressive Fordranes in an effort to cull the power of their longtime rivals, the Tristanne Family. The war was untimely for Erristan in particular, because their army, the Stallions were undermanned and outfitted with extremely old equipment. Fearing the full might of the Trodian Army being brought to the front, Henry Erristan pushed forth major spending, bringing the size of the standing Erristan Army from 30,000 troops to nearly 280,000 in just 5 years. This spending, combined with the reduced trade being put in place since Ne380, would put a heavy economic strain on the Erristan Kingdom and would contribute heavily to the Forge of Astaria. In Ne385, a constitutional coup was enacted by the DeMarc family in an effort to usurp rule from the Fordranes. They were able to play off of anti-Erristan sentiment and the failures of the Grasslands war to date and gained enough support to overthrow the Fordranes. Vestin DeMarc, the highest ranking member of the military now that the Fordranes were pushed from power, was named Kal. He began to build up forces and slowly pull back from the fighting on Groftlan in Ne386. On Jan. 19, Ne387, the last of Trodian forces left Vauxe after peace negotiations with the leaders of all involved nations. Trodia ceded Vauxe to joint Erristan/Groftlan control and were forced to officially declare peace time, which under Trodian Constitutional Law meant that the Kal was to be stripped of powers and the Trodian Army would be dispersed. Kal (Vestin) DeMarc did not cede power, though, and continued to gather forces in Western Marreth in preparation for the future attack on Groftbay that would start the Forge of Astaria.